Brian P. Tierney (born 1957)[a] is an American public
relations executive and publisher of The Philadelphia
Inquirer.[1]
Born in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, Tierney
created Tierney Communications, one of the largest and most
successful public relations and advertising firms
in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. In
the local media Tierney became known for personally contacting
reporters and their editors with accusations of bias and
unprofessionalism whenever a negative story about his clients
appeared. In 1997, on behalf of his client the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Tierney lobbed unprofessionalism
accusations against Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Ralph
Cipriano. The case led to Cipriano accusing The Inquirer
of censoring his story and suing the paper for libel. Five years after
True North Communications acquired Tierney Communications in 1998,
Tierney left and founded another public relations firm, which was a
sold a few months later.

Tierney in 2006 assembled a group of investors to form Philadelphia Media Holdings
LLC, a group started with the purpose of buying The
Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News.
Chief executive of Philadelphia Media Holdings, Tierney also became
the publisher of the struggling Philadelphia Inquirer
shortly after Philadelphia Media Holdings bought the paper. After
overcoming doubts about Tierney's neutrality in running the paper
he had criticized in the past, Philadelphia Media Holdings has had
to deal with the newspaper's falling circulation and advertising
revenue; it has filed bankruptcy. Outside of business, Tierney has
been active in politics and a supporter of Republican causes.
Working for the Ronald Reagan administration in the
1980s, Tierney also worked in George W. Bush's 2000 Presidential
election campaign, and Sam Katz's 2003 run for
Philadelphia mayor. Tierney is also an active member of numerous board of
directors including NutriSystem and
his old school, The Episcopal
Academy.

Contents

Early
life

Brian Tierney is the fourth of five sons of James and Claire
Tierney. Growing up in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, he
attended Waldron Mercy Academy and later
The Episcopal Academy.[2] When he
was seven, his family moved to Springfield
Township, Pennsylvania. In 1975, at the age of eighteen,
Tierney unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination
for township commissioner of Springfield. During the campaign
supporters of his opponent in the Democratic primary had torn down
his campaign posters and stole other campaign items. Tierney became
a Republican after the
primary when a few Republicans who said they would look out for his
stuff during his primary campaign, invited him to a party
meeting.[3][4]

He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania
in 1979, majoring in political science. At the University of
Pennsylvania, Tierney ran the Penn Students for Gerald Ford campaign,
and, at the age of twenty-two, moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked for
the Republican National
Committee in various positions, including as a messenger
between Ronald
Reagan's administration and Republican candidates across the
country. Tierney moved back to the Philadelphia region as a Reagan appointee
in the U.S. Small Business Administration's public affairs office.
In 1987, he received a law degree from Widener
University. Tierney married in 1980 and has two children.[5]

Public
relations

While earning his law degree at Widener University, Tierney
founded Tierney & Company Public Relations
in 1984, which he financed on his credit card. In 1986, he sold the
company to Lewis Gilman & Kynett.[6]
Tierney stayed with Lewis Gilman & Kynett and by the time he
turned twenty-nine he had become president and CEO of the public
relations division.[5]
In 1989, he left Lewis Gilman & Kynett and founded Tierney
Group, another public relations company, with just three people.
One of those people remembers Tierney's saying "We need to look at
what everyone else is charging and charge our clients $15 an hour
more." When told that was crazy Tierney responded, "We're going to
be the best at what we do. We need to charge people
accordingly."[7]
The company quickly grew with billings of US$3.5 million and
thirty-five employees in offices in three cities.[6][8]

Cipriano
affair

Along with promotions, Tierney would advocate for his clients
when targeted by news reporters. Tierney would contact news editors
to complain about coverage of his clients, accusing news reporters
of being biased, incompetent and unprofessional. The most notable
of Tierney's complaints to reporters was directed at The Philadelphia
Inquirer and Inquirer reporter Ralph
Cipriano.[3][5][11]

Ralph Cipriano was the The Philadelphia Inquirer's
religion reporter for about a year in 1993. During that time he was
called several times by Tierney on behalf of Tierney's client, the
Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Philadelphia. After leaving the religion
reporter position, Cipriano wrote articles for the Sunday paper,
where in 1997 he wrote a profile on CardinalAnthony
Bevilacqua. The profile turned into an investigative piece as
Cipriano obtained documents detailing US$5 million in questionable
spending and how the church was spending millions in the suburbs
while cutting inner-city services.[5]

While Cipriano worked on the piece, he and his editors, Jonathan
Neumann and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Rosenthal,
were contacted by Tierney. Tierney accused Ralph Cipriano of using
inaccurate facts, trespassing and creating a protest at the
Archdiocese's vacation home in Ventnor City, New Jersey, all
of which Cipriano denies. Cipriano says that Tierney indicated to
him that it was the Archdiocese that had gotten him removed from
the religion reporter position, a position Cipriano says he thought
he left on his own. Also according to Cipriano, Tierney indicated
that if Cipriano was involved in any story about the Archdiocese of
Philadelphia, Tierney would start a public relations campaign to
ruin Cipriano and The Philadelphia Inquirer, a charge that
Tierney denies.[5]

The story Cipriano originally wanted in The Inquirer
was never published.[5]
Cipriano accused The Inquirer of censoring his report and
giving into demands from the Archdiocese.[11]
Cipriano eventually was published in the National Catholic
Reporter and editor Robert Rosenthal accused Cipriano of
bias and not being able to prove his stories. Rosenthal said
Cipriano "has a very strong personal point of view and an
agenda...There were things we didn't publish that Ralph wrote that
we didn't think were truthful. He could never prove them."[12]
Cipriano sued Rosenthal and The Inquirer for libel and the case was
later settled out of court. In an 2001 interview with the Editor
& Publisher, Cardinal Bevilacqua credited Tierney with
stopping the story and noted that The Philadelphia
Inquirer's stories about the Archdiocese have been more
positive.[5]
In 1998 Tierney was named a Knight of the Order of St.
Gregory the Great by Pope John Paul II.[3]

Later
ventures

Tierney Group and Tierney & Partners, later renamed Tierney
Communications, was bought by True North Communications in 1998,
which is now part of Interpublic Group.[5]
Tierney continued as CEO until April 2002, when he stepped down. He
continued with Tierney Communications as chairman until December 1,
2003, when Tierney resigned and announced he was founding a new
public relations firm, T2 Group.[13]

T2 Group lasted until June 2004 when Tierney announced it was
being bought by credit card company Advanta and that Tierney and most of T2's
management would be hired by Advanta.[14][15]
Tierney became vice chairman of Advanta, but in February 2005,
Advanta announced Tierney was no longer serving as vice-chairman.
The company gave no explanation as to why Tierney lost the position
and Tierney's employment with the company ended the next month.[15]

Philadelphia Media
Holdings

The Inquirer Building.

In 2005 Tierney attempted to buy magazines Inc.
and Fast Company from Gruner + Jahr,
but failed.[16]
Tierney tried again to enter the media industry in March 2006 when
he assembled a group of mostly former clients or people that are
with him on the board of the Episcopal Academy to buy Philadelphia
Newspapers Inc. He and other local businessman formed Philadelphia Media Holdings
LLC and bought The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News
and philly.com for US$515 million from The
McClatchy Company which was selling off newspapers in low
growth markets after buying Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.'s parent
company Knight
Ridder.[1]
The buyout was met with skepticism by many at The
Inquirer, especially by reporters who had been contacted in
the past by Tierney on behalf of his clients. Tierney allayed fears
with the members of Philadelphia Media Holdings signing a pledge
not to interfere with the paper's editorial independence. Tierney
said he would combat The Inquirer's decreasing revenue by
spending millions on advertisements and promotions and not by
laying off staff.[11][16]
Tierney assumed the role as publisher of The Philadelphia
Inquirer in August 2006 after former publisher Joe Natoli
resigned for a job at the University of Miami.[17]

The Inquier's circulation has been dropping since the
1980s, and except for briefly seeing a rise in weekday circulation
in 2007, The Philadelphia Inquirer's weekday and Sunday
circulation has continued to steadily drop since Philadelphia Media
Holdings bought the paper.[18][19] Loss
of circulation combined with an unexpected drop in advertising
revenue have forced more than 400 job cuts at The Inquirer
and Daily News since they were bought by Philadelphia
Media Holdings.[7][20][21] As
Philadelphia Media Holdings financial situation worsened in 2008
employees began complaining about how management has been
monitoring things such as bathroom breaks and the coffee they
drink, and that Tierney has been patrolling the parking garage
seeing what time employees arrive for work.[7]
Despite efforts to manage the financial strain, on February 21,
2009, Philadelphia Newspapers LLC, the subsidiary of Philadelphia
Media Holdings that owns the paper, filled for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection. The company hopes to restructure the
US$390 million in debt it borrowed to buy the newspapers.[22] The
beginning of 2009 also saw the filing of a lawsuit that accused
The Philadelphia Inquirer of writing critical stories
about Chester Community Charter School's use of public funds after
business negotiations between school operator Vahan H. Gureghian
and Tierney failed.[23]

Other
activities

Tierney continued his political activism in 1990s and early
2000s by donating to local and national campaigns and headed George W. Bush's
outreach to Catholics in the 2000 Presidential
Election. Tierney was credited with helping generate votes for
Bush and helping him win important states like Ohio and Missouri.
Tierney also frequently appeared as a conservative voice on WPVI-TV's Inside
Story. In 2003 Tierney headed Sam
Katz's third campaign for mayor of Philadelphia, which he lost
to incumbent mayor John F. Street. During the campaign,
Tierney was involved in a highly publicized dispute with Neil
Oxman. Oxman was a political consultant and friend of Sam Katz who
worked on Katz's 1999 run for mayor. Oxman left Katz's 2003
campaign because he was unable to work with Tierney, saying Tierney
was a "shameless self-promoter" and "full of bullshit". Katz
praised Tierney, who he said was full of optimism, which Katz said
was a great asset when things were going poorly in the campaign and
in Katz's personal life.[3]

The Pennsylvania Report named him
to the 2009 "The Pennsylvania Report 100" list of influential
figures in Pennsylvania.[26]
In 2002, he was named to the PoliticsPA list of politically invluential
individuals.[27]In
2003, he was named the PoliticsPA list of politically invluential
individuals, where he was called a "potential statewide candidate
in 2004."[28]

Notes

a.^ Date
based on news reports giving his age as 27 in 1984, 37 in 1994 and
49 in 2006.[3][8]